The focus of this study is on children who by criteria of genetic and family variables are at high risk, but who are functioning relatively well. Criteria of high risk were both parents are depressed or mother is depressed and father is absent, and family environment is stressful. Fifty children, two from each of 25 families that met these criteria of risk, were studied. The children were between 5 and 11 years. In-depth case analyses were done on four children who were functioning well; namely, has no diagnosis; were liked by parents, teachers and peers; and were performing at grade level. On this basis, critical factors in their development were identified and hypotheses regarding conditions or processes promoting good functioning were formulated and tested on the 50 children to determine whether the identified factors predicted the current status of the children in the high risk sample. The protective factors shared by all of the children who were "surviving" were above average intelligence, had socially winning ways or charm, and a match, since birth, between a specific characteristic of the child and a parental need. By fulfilling a specific need of the ill parent(s), the "survivor" children have received the maximum support from their family's scant psychological resources. The children's relatively good functioning is, however, at the expense of their own developmental needs.